GURPS Cyberpunk 2078 Session 6: Body Snatchers

Characters:
Braxton "Jar" Jiggs - Cybertech/Ripperdoc
Alexander "Specter" Marshal - Solo
Pat "Peacock" Watson - "Former" Nomad
Ruby "Paxos" Lang - Netrunner

Taking Care of Business

Paxos was newly homeless and Specter figured he needed to relocate as well in case Stacy had recognized him, so for the last three days of June, they couch-surfed with Peacock and Jar, respectively.  They were all larger than life personalities so it wouldn't be a viable long-term solution, though, so Paxos started a lease on an actual apartment in The Glen, while Specter just found a cheap room above the roundabout in Kabuki.  Peacock spent a week hanging out at a bar that the guards of the prison their family was locked up in frequented.  After spending close to a thousand eddies on drinks for people, they singled out one who seemed susceptible to pressure, for future reference.

Jar waited a week to get a meeting with a Voodoo Boys higher-up, then bribed him to let him take over another unit in the hotel to have a more "proper" ripper lab.  Having seen a chameleon skin in action, Specter finally bit the bullet and had Jar do the full skin replacement job, then spent the next week in bed recovering.  He also got his cyber knuckles tuned up so they wouldn't fail on him, but the parts for his bootleg Sandevistan were pricey and had to be ordered from the Soviet Union, meaning that piece of chrome would remain glitchy for now.  

Paxos spent a while reading the news, trying to read between the lines to find places that had little corporate authority, eventually ending up with a very short list, largely featuring warzones, or exotic locales like the O'Neill space stations (which were closed to the outside world anyway).  A couple weeks later, Paxos got an abrupt call from a Downtown fixer who was in the big leagues: Reality Black.  She was extremely dismissive, telling Paxos that this call wouldn't usually be worth her time, but that the client had asked for Paxos' crew by name.  Client's name was Sabela Elara, an old friend of Paxos', and after confirming that she already had the contact info, Reality hung up.

GURPS Cyberpunk 2078 Session 5: Brothel Break-in

Characters:

Braxton "Jar" Jiggs - Cybertech/Ripperdoc

Alexander "Specter" Marshal - Solo

Pat "Peacock" Watson - "Former" Nomad

Ruby "Paxos" Lang - Netrunner

The Plan

Jar and Specter went around Arroyo and picked up some rumours.  Someone at city hall was keeping the cops off the Mox's backs; Peacock assumed it was their nemesis, Chudwell, based on no evidence.  The Moxes were trucking the precursor chemicals in with a van, and then distributing the finished Blue Glass to street dealers using the same van, which meant that the department store contained a meth lab as well as the stash.  Specter ran into a bit of trouble, when a ganger with a mohawk of spiked hair, Action Jack, pulled a gun on him and said that word on the street was he was a cop.

Specter, insulted, said he was the real deal, triggered his Sandy, and replied by quick-drawing his own pistol.  They stared each other down for a while, before Action holstered his iron and apologized for calling him a pig.  Action didn't know who was spreading the rumours (Peacock: "It's Chudwell"), but Specter guessed it was probably Rose, another one of his vindictive exes.  Meanwhile, Paxos tried to look into the city hall angle, but whoever was doing this had covered their tracks, and she didn't find anything.

Comfortable they had enough intel to go in, the crew started putting together a plan.  Paxos realized the recording they had to take was going to the NCPD and so she'd disguise everyone thoroughly before they went in.  In particular, a bunch of Moxes knew Specter because he'd dated one for a while.  Jar, however, refused to compromise on his style, but the camera was in his head, so everyone else let him risk pissing off the Mox.  Trying to avoid collateral damage, they decided to go in the middle of the night.

GURPS Cyberpunk 2078 Session 4: Manhunt

Characters:

Braxton "Jar" Jiggs - Cybertech/Ripperdoc

Alexander "Specter" Marshal - Solo

Pat "Peacock" Watson - "Former" Nomad

Ruby "Paxos" Lang - Netrunner

The Meet

The crew (minus Specter) walked through the main floor of Lizzie's , shrouded in purple lights and slow music, to the office of Susie Q.  She was typing away at a terminal as they entered, and didn't look up.  A black woman, she had a mismatched upper faceplate in a different skin tone, and a dozen or so magenta spikes projecting out of her forearms that Jar identified as a dart weapon.  Jar opened the conversation by complimenting her on the "spike gauntlets", but she skipped the small talk and went straight to business.

Susie tapped some commands into the terminal then swung the monitor around so everyone could see the grainy security camera footage as she narrated.  A joygirl, Napalm Jane, was found strangled to death in the Jade Oak Motel a few days ago.  On the monitor, a dark-skinned man in a trenchcoat with close-cropped hair walked into view with the girl on his arm.  The tape fast-forwarded, and the man left, alone.  Jar muttered "Johnny White...", recognizing the man as a solo and frequent client of his.

Folding her arms, Susie asked if it was going to be a problem if Jar knew this guy, but Jar waved her off, assuring her that he was a pro.  Figuring they had enough to go on, Susie turned back to the terminal and got back to work on spreadsheets, reminding them to bring him in alive, and call for the dropoff when they had him.  Jar insisted on having a default dropoff in case things were hot, so she relented and, not looking up, said they could bring him 'round the back of Lizzie's if it came to that.

GURPS Cyberpunk 2078 Session 3: Search and Rescue

Characters:

Braxton "Jar" Jiggs - Cybertech/Ripperdoc

Alexander "Specter" Marshal - Solo

Pat "Peacock" Watson - "Former" Nomad

Ruby "Paxos" Lang - Netrunner

Hanging Out

Jar and Specter finished tying themselves off to the grapple gun ropes, and Jar climbed out over the balcony.  He lost his grip and slipped, falling past the window of the 32nd, before the rope caught him and he found himself dangling just beside the broken laser-link.  It was hanging by a cable, but the mount was still affixed to the building's exterior.  After reattaching it, he called Nightingale to align it, and, after patching her through to a live-feed from his cybereye and busting out the laser level in his toolhand, they successfully re-established the connection.  The rest of the crew reeled him back up to the 33rd floor, and they left Megabuilding H6 substantially wealthier than when they entered, with 6th Street none the wiser.

Over the next few days, Specter recruited some local punks to join his "gang" by showing off the rocket launcher, only for them to vanish a couple days later.  Eventually he tracked down one of the kids, who bluntly asked him if it was true that he'd gotten his old gang killed.  After a pause, Specter explained that he'd been sent to kill a guy who turned out to have friends in high places, "so kinda but not really", and that was good enough to get the other initiates to show up again.

Jar, meanwhile, moved into as proper an apartment as one could find in Pacifica, landing a suite at the Mirage hotel, which had security provided by the Voodoo Boys.  They also hashed out a deal where he kicked up a share of the profits from his ripperdoc work.  While walking back from his old place after getting everything picked up by movers, he spotted a gang of seven or eight punks in the distance wearing blazing neon pink and walking towards him.  After a moment, he recognized the leader as his arch-nemesis, Anthony Gunderson, who raised an arm and pointed at him.  And then the gangers all drew guns.

GURPS Cyberpunk 2078 Session 2: The Big Payday

Characters:

Braxton "Jar" Jiggs - Cybertech/Ripperdoc

Alexander "Specter" Marshal - Solo

Pat "Peacock" Watson - "Former" Nomad

Ruby "Paxos" Lang - Netrunner

The Haul

Peacock and Jar took positions behind the car and took aim at the corpo guards, while Specter and Paxos kept loading what they could into the trunk from inside the semi.  The guards tried to open fire, but both of their guns jammed simultaneously, and return fire from Peacock and Jar sent them back into cover - though they were protected by their armour.  Thinking he was safe, the driver started to gun the semi, at least as much as he could.  Once they finished unjamming their weapons, they ran up closer, but fainted from the wounds they'd taken when their SUV crashed.

Paxos and Specter grabbed the last of the loot and jumped out the back of the semi trailer before it could pick up too much speed and loaded their haul into the trunk.  After Paxos had stopped the bleeding on all the wounded with a twenty-year expired medkit she found in the glovebox, they headed back into Night City, passing under a Trauma Team AV on the way.  Specter took stock of what all they'd grabbed: 4 of the chameleon skins in black briefcase-sized storage units, 2 crates of the Firmitas anti-psychotic drug, and a climate-controlled "mystery box".

Inside the mystery box was some kind of skull implant that Jar figured would be used to inject drugs directly into the brain; perhaps the Firmitas or the anti-clotting agents that had also been in the trailer.  They decided to hold off on doing anything with them for now, and sent Haga Gonne proof that they had the goods.  Shortly they received the address for the meet: Lizzie's Bar, the Mox HQ in Kabuki.  Peacock took the ring road and they arrived just as night fell.

GURPS Cyberpunk 2078 Session 1: Stealth and Rocket Launchers

Biz

Braxton Jiggs, aka Jar, had just finished installing a set of technails for a client in the surgery suite that took up the vast majority of his one-room apartment when he received a call on his implanted 'link.  He recognized the name Regina Jones as a fixer out of Kabuki, though he'd never met her before, and answered.  A businesslike conversation ensued as she offered him and his crew a job to swipe some data for a media.  Payment details were hashed out, and Jar was instructed to meet one Trevor Nakada in a bar called The Storm on the waterfront in Japantown for more deets.

Jar put out the call to the rest of the crew, and Peacock, the only one with a ride (due to being a nomad), started the long loop from Arroyo to pick everyone up.  In their usual plain baggy black suit and heavily contrasting red mohawk, they pulled up to Specter's place in Rancho.  The solo stood out in his white and red gang leathers and white and black tech-mohawk, gave Peacock the nod, and dumped his rifle in the trunk before getting in the passenger seat.  They arrived in Coast View right as Jar had finished disposing of today's client's meat fingertips in a dumpster, having already changed into his trademark white leather jacket and pants (no shirt, so the ladies can see the goods).  His mohawk made three as he got into the back seat.

Paxos was the last one to be picked up, in The Glen, and had stayed jacked into the net right up until they'd pulled up outside her megabuilding.  Rather incongruously, this heavy-duty netrunner in a pretty sun dress and floppy hat tumbled out of an air vent in the alley, then dusted herself off and joined the others in the car as they finally set out for The Storm.  Soon enough, they were at the colourful Japantown waterfront.  It was one of the cleaner districts, which meant the piles of garbage in the alleys were only large instead of enormous.

GURPS Spooky Halloween "One-Shot" 2022 (Part 2)

Characters:

Dingus Nerdingham - Serendipity, Curious, Grocery Delivery, Could Be A Chemist, Has A Dog

Joe Schmoe - Enhanced Dodge, Violence Phobia, Bicycle Courier, Former Nurse, Caving

Leigh Prieto - Attractive, Gig Maid, Fired From Crime Lab, Aspiring Rapper

Zoe Lastgirl - Enhanced Dodge, Very Unfit, Food Delivery, Could Be A Carpenter, Accordion

Beef Hardbody - Very Fit, Darkness Phobia, Rideshare Driver, Could Be A Linguist, Basketball

A Tricky Jump

The ghost of Count Orlock continued to play the organ, and Beef's group (Gil (from the Simpsons) and Abby) couldn't find any clues in the room, so he suggested they go check out the stone tower with the gargoyles.  Gil seemed hesitant, and was proven correct when he failed to jump across the broken floor and fell down to the library, landing face-first on the wooden frame of a couch, breaking his nose.  Beef shouted down that they'd take the stairs down to meet up with Gil, but then he and Abby both slipped and fell in, with Beef landing badly enough he broke his leg.

Abby was fine, having landed on the cushioned part of a couch, and they took in their surroundings.  A fire blazed in a brick fireplace on one wall, and the other three were lined with shelves stocked full of books.  They had landed on the only furniture in the room, the two couches, one of which had a newspaper open on it.  There was also an open book on the floor in front of the fireplace.  

Beef, able to limp around on his good leg, took a look at the newspaper and saw the headline "The Dreadful Murder of Count Orlock".  Figuring it might have some clues, he sat down to read the article.  It stated that the Count had been killed on the top floor of the mansion, and that the murderer was still at large.  Beef also grabbed the open book (an encyclopedia, it turned out), and stashed it for possible future use, then headed out to take the stairs back up to the second floor.